Two employees reported headaches and were taken to Central Maine Medical Center to be evaluated. Both were treated and released.

Fire crews from several communities were at the plant and special response teams were called in to try and find the source of the leak and shut it down. Late Thursday afternoon, the plant was given the all clear and employees were allowed back in the building.

Shannon Medical Center's emergency room was shut down Thursday evening due to a HAZMAT threat.

A patient who went into the Shannon Emergency a little after 8 p.m. Thursday evening with "unusual symptoms," created major concern. These symptoms prompted staff to close down and quarantine the eastern area of the hospital where the Emergency Room is located for safety precautions. Additionally, concerned staff called a Hazardous Materials Biological Safety Team from Goodfellow AFB to investigate.

The HAZMAT crew went into the affected area and investigated, and after about 30 minutes, an "all clear" judgment was made

Shannon spokeswoman Lyndy Stone said, "When there is a potential threat, our protocol is to isolate the threat."

After a thorough investigation, there is no threat of exposure, Stone said.

At this time, the patient's name is unknown; however, HAZMAT officials speaking over radio channels stated that the patient received a package filled with a powdery substance. After coming into contact with it, he started having unusual symptoms, which prompted him to go to Shannon ER.

A hazardous materials team was called to a Kent facility late Wednesday after a forklift pierced a 55-gallon drum full of organic peroxide.

Firefighters were called to the chemical leak about 11:40 p.m. and found that the 30 or so employees working in the facility in the 6200 block of South 228th Street had left the building and were waiting in the parking lot.

The driver of the forklift was evaluated at the scene.

Crews determined the peroxide posed no danger and found that most of the spill was confined to the trailer in which it was stored.

Employees re-entered the building and a company that specialized in chemical cleanup was called to handle the leak.

A truck driver suffered a serious leg injury, and four more people had trouble breathing due to a dangerous mixture of chlorine and acid in Prince George‰??s County on Wednesday.

County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said the truck driver was delivering chlorine to a power washing company on the 8000 block of Penn Randall Place in Forestville when the chlorine came in contact with acid at about noon.

The four other people, all employees of the power washing company, were in good condition after they were taken to a hospital, Brady said.

ISLAMABAD ‰?? At least 11 people were injured in a blast occurred in Al Falah building E-11 sector here on Wednesday, PakistanTribe.com reported.Talking to media, spokesperson of Islamabad Police said that the blast was occurred in a private medicine company due to chemical explosion.The injured were shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), he said.Non-governmental organization Edhi, Islamabad Police, Rangers and Army personnel took part in security and relief work after the incident.

Workers from a factory in Tuzla, an industrial area of Istanbul, were evacuated after a chemical leak was discovered on Wednesday.Several fire crews were sent to the area. A brownish smoke could be observed due to the leak. The police have blocked roads leading to the factory.The €¡stanbul Governor's Office released a written statement on Wednesday, explaining, ‰??Nitric acid that leaked from a damaged tanker belonging to a company operating inside the Tuzla Leather Organized Industrial Zone is being cleaned up safely.‰??Nitric acid is harmful to people's health, with the potential to damage eyes and the respiratory system.The €¡stanbul Metropolitan Municipality also released a statement indicating that 23 staff members with eight vehicles from the €¡stanbul Fire Department are working to clean up the nitric acid.

The Wood River Fire Department responded to a chemical incident Tuesday afternoon at the Wood River Aquatic Center. Authorities say two types of chlorine had been mixed together in the morning, and after sitting for several hours and heating up, began popping and lead to the evacuation of the facility just after 4pm.

Fire fighters were able to knock down the exploding pool chemicals fairly quickly and no one was injured. The Madison County Haz-Mat Unit was called in as a precaution, but after the air was cleared and the chemicals were cleaned up, the pool reopened for a party at 7pm.

A major fire broke out at a chemical godown in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur on Thursday morning. No causalities have been reported so far.

Ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames.

"The fire started at around 5.45 am. We were all sleeping nearby and we fled when the fire broke out. This is a chemical factory, there was an explosion and then the fire broke out," said an eye-witness.

Fire Officer V.P. Srivastava confirmed that there were no causalities in the incident.

A welder died when a fire gutted cooling equipment in the laboratory of the National Institute for Fusion Science in Toki, Gifu Prefecture, on Tuesday. According to the institute, there is no leakage of radioactive substances.

Yasuo Sakaeda, 61, who was performing welding work inside the cylindrical cooling equipment, was killed. A 32-year-old male employee received burns to his neck.

According to the Gifu prefectural police, the institute and other sources, five male workers were doing piping work on the equipment, which produces liquid helium in the laboratory building, from 8:30 a.m. on the day.

FORESTVILLE, Md. (WUSA9) -- Five people were sent to the hospital after an apparent chemical reaction spill in Forestville on Wednesday.

A truck driver was delivering chlorine to a warehouse in the 8000 block of Penn Randall Place at approximately noon when the chlorine came in contact with an acid, according to Prince George's County fire spokesperson Mark Brady.

A violent chemical reaction occurred and seriously injured the driver. The driver suffered injuries to his leg and was taken to a burn center, says Brady.

Four employees from the place of business rushed to his aid, coming in contact with the chemicals. They were taken to a hospital for an evaluation.

GRAND BAY, AL (WLOX) -Interstate 10 eastbound just past the Alabama state line is now open to all traffic. The area had been shut down or backed up with traffic for more than 16 hours as emergency crews worked to clean up a hazmat incident just east of the Grand Bay exit.

Mobile Fire-Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman said a tanker truck carrying nitrobenzene overturned on the side of the interstate near mile marker four. He said less than five gallons of the liquid leaked from the truck.

MHP troopers had to divert I-10 traffic to Highway 90 at Highway 63 and the Franklin Creek Road exit.

Huffman said the driver of the truck suffered only minor injuries, and the truck was the only vehicle involved in the wreck.

GRAND HAVEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. ‰?? HAZMAT crews were called to the scene of a small chemical spill at Grand Rapids‰?? Lake Michigan water filtration plant, 17350 Lake Michigan Dr.

Grand Haven Township Fire Chief Tom Gerencer said a chemical mixture prompted the evacuation Wednesday morning. Homes and businesses in the area are not being evacuated. However, Gerencer said residents at four homes to the west of the plant are being asked to keep their windows closed and stay inside.

According to Grand Rapids city spokesman Steven Guitar, 800 gallons of fluoride was accidentally mixed into a tank containing 250 gallons of hypocholorite, releasing a cholrine gas into a storage room.

No injuries have been reported at this time and there is no threat to the water supply, Guitar said.

---------------------------------------------

BIO-SAFETY STRESSED IN HOSPITALS, LABS IN BANGLADESH IN THE WAKE OF NEW DISEASESTags: Bangladesh, laboratory, discovery, response

Bangladesh‰??s medical laboratories and hospitals have been urged to focus on bio-safety, given the emergence of new diseases.

‰??If Bangladesh is safe, then the world is safe as well,‰?? Petrus Paolo Carbonell, President of the ESCO Biosafety Institute, Singapore, said at a seminar on Wednesday.

The US-based ESCO is a leading provider of laboratory bio-safety solutions in the world.

Carbonell was delivering the keynote paper at the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) in Dhaka.

Its new ‰??biomedical engineering‰?? department has organised the seminar to make students aware of the critical need of bio-safety, particularly in laboratories and hospitals.

Maj Gen Dr HR Harun, consultant surgeon general of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, said bio-safety was not a new issue, but ‰??we are looking at it from a different point of view‰??.

He said many patients contract new infections while undergoing treatment in hospitals.

‰??When they are in the ICU, they are 20 percent more likely to get hospital-acquired infections,‰?? he said. ‰??This can prolong hospital stay by 2.5 times.‰??

Wood River firefighters moved in to knock over and drown buckets outside the pump house of the Wood River Aquatic Center after two different types of chlorine were accidentally mixed together. The chain reaction caused explosions from the bucket and sent chlorine fumes through the neighborhood.

Wood River Avenue and several side streets were closed for more than an hour during the incident. The Madison County Haz Mat truck was also called to the scene.

SALEM, OR (KPTV) -People in Salem were told to close their windows and shut off their air conditioners Tuesday afternoon after a chemical caught fire.

Marion County Fire District #1 firefighters and a HazMat team were called to Carlson Testing, located at 4060 Hudson Ave NE, after a 10-gallon container of capping compound (Sulfur Mortars) caught fire.

Employees of the business tried to extinguish the flames and moved the container outside, that's when it starting emitting vapors that could be hazardous.

Firefighters immediately evacuated Carlson Testing and requested the 9-1-1 center begin reverse calling businesses in the area asking them to seek shelter inside their business, close doors, windows and HVAC systems.

After an hour of assessment and inspection, crews said the fire was extinguished and the container had cooled down enough to stop the release of chemical vapors. The emitted Sulfur gas had dissipated and there is no longer a threat to the area.

The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.